missing blanche

My officemate Mika shared this heartwarming/heartbreaking video of a man and his best friend. It brought me to tears! What a special relationship they had. Dogs really are awesome!

We had a number of dogs growing up, but my sister Lycel and I were fondest of Whitey (our first dog ever), her baby Tutie, and later, Tutie's baby Blanche. The video brought back happy memories, but at the same time, it also reminded me of the pain of losing them. Whitey and Tutie went missing on separate occasions. We didn't use leashes on them very often and they were free to roam around our neighborhood - they might have wandered off and somebody took interest in them. I remember feeling so sad when we lost them.

But I was most devastated when we lost Blanche, who was closest to me. I was in college that time. When we encountered a financial problem, it was decided that all our stuff - dogs included - would be sent to the province; while my sister and I will stay with a relative in Manila and continue with school.

At one point, my sister and I went to the province for a visit. I was so happy to see Blanche! And she was just as enthusiastic. We were there only for a weekend so I played with Blanche as much as I could.

Sunday at dawn, as my sister and I were packing for our flight back to Manila that morning, we received a devastating news: a bus ran over Blanche. I cannot even begin to explain how brokenhearted I was! I tried to console myself by thinking that she merely waited for a chance to see me and play with me again, before going up to doggie heaven. Even now as I type this, it honestly still hurts a little. How I miss her! Any dog owner would understand.

I haven't had dogs again since that time - not by choice, but mainly because it's not allowed in the apartments I've stayed in, including our present home. But when we move to a bigger house, you can expect that adding a fur baby to our family would be first on my list.